Bump Day: 38 weeks!!!

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant, and it’s true what they say- it’s like waiting on a ticking time bomb. It’s such a surreal feeling to know that at any point in time, my body could spontaneously launch into one of the most painful experiences known to man and afterward my life will be forever changed. And yet, when a friend calls to ask if I want to grab lunch tomorrow or when Jon asks if I want to see a movie this week, I say ‘yes’ as if life is totally going on as normal. 

On the one hand, the social distractions keep me from getting overwhelmed with the impending life changes coming my way, but on the other hand, I’m kind of craving some alone time so that I can ‘get my mind right’ and focus on the task at hand.  I haven’t put much thought into the labor and delivery part of baby boy’s birth. I’m a little anxious about the pain and the uncertainty of the actual birthing process, but I’m way more nervous about the recovery and the breastfeeding and the being responsible for a helpless human being 24/7 for the forseeable future. 

I’m excited about so many things about having our son, but as someone with zero experience with newborns, I’m feeling a tad intimidated by all the skills I will need to master immediately after he’s born. I’ve been cramming on information regarding bathing, nail-filing, diaper-changing, feed-scheduling, temperature-regulating, etc. It all seems very abstract now, but pretty soon it will be an absolute non-stop reality. Of course, I feel unprepared for the challenge, but I guess  I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. 

Another cliché that is holding true is that I feel like I’m about to POP.  I doubt my stomach could stretch any more than it already has and at any point I feel like it might just burst like a balloon. I feel like I look like a cartoon of a pregnant woman; a petite frame with a basketball shoved under my shirt. Apparently this is a classic sign of carrying a boy and I’ve had numerous strangers guess that we were having a boy just from the way I look. 

I meet with my midwife tomorrow so hopefully she assesses that baby boy has grown appropriately in the past two weeks and is still presenting as a healthy but small peanut. Please keep our wee lad in your thoughts and prayers.

It’s been a long day (more on why later) and I’m quite tired so let me just show you the photos of what baby bump looks like at 38 weeks. 

The Early Bird Gets the Sunrise

Over the past few weeks, the days in Scotland have gotten noticeably shorter. Right now, we’re having about 12 hours of sunlight and that’s being shortened by minutes every day. Now, to those of you stateside, 12 hours of daylight doesn’t seem like a very short day, but we arctic-circlers get quite used to the sun coming up long before we wake up and going down long after we’ve gone to bed. 

During the long summer days of June-August, there were several stretches of days when I never saw it get dark outside. It’s a bit disorienting now to notice that the sun has gone down 3 hours before bedtime. And by the time December 21^st rolls around, it will be pitch black by 4 pm. 

Jonathan and I agree that the darkness of winter is way worse than the coldness, and we’re a bit apprehensive about the short intervals of daylight, especially with baby boy being born right on the cusp of it. But one of the perks of the days getting shorter is that I’m usually awake for the sunrise. 

After a summer of waking up after the sun is up, once October hits, it’s like I’m totally rediscovering how beautiful the Scottish sky is when the sun comes out and fills it with orange light. This week, I’ve had to push my walks with Bailey back to about 7:30 to make sure it’s light enough to keep an eye on her during our off leash romps, and we’ve been rewarded with some spectacular sunrises. 

I thought yesterday’s was pretty amazing, but today’s put it to shame. 

Either way, I’m trying to enjoy these morning walks with Bailey while I can. At first, I was bummed when I had to swap jogging for walking, but now I’ve come to enjoy the slower pace and relaxation  that can be found in a quiet forest first thing in the morning. Once baby boy comes, I know these little excursions will be quite rare. 

Jonathan is pretty supportive and insists he’ll come home occasionally at lunch and stay home on weekend mornings to let Bailey and I have our one-on-one girl time while he bonds with baby. I sure hope this works out, because it really has been my favorite part of living in Scotland, and I’m pretty sure it’s Bailey-girl’s favorite thing as well. 

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

One of my favorite places in all of Aberdeen is Hazlehead Park on the western side of town. It a big honkin' park full of gardens, a golf course, soccer fields and an entire forest with a trail system leading to other forests throughout the immediate suburbs and countryside of Aberdeen. 

My house is located just off of a trail that is connected to this system, so it’s easy peasy for Bailey and I to grab our trail shoes and head to the park. I honestly am there more mornings than I’m not. That’s why it was surprising to me at my maternity photo shoot when Nary suggested we stop by the Hazlehead Rose Gardens for a few photo ops. Whatdoyoumean Rose Gardens? And how did have I missed them all this time? 

Well, 1) Because I’m possibly the least observant and most aloof person on the planet. You know that saying, ‘if it was a snake, it would have bit me.’? Story of my life. If the Rose Gardens were a snake, they surely would have bitten me by now. 

2) I’m pretty sure they were doing some planting and renovation work on the gardens last summer which is why I never noticed them on my daily jogs with Bailey. Now that I’m on a shorter walking route, I usually stick to the forest and cut out this part of the park  on my route so that (in a long, runoff sentence, nutshell) explains why up until last Monday, I’d never stepped foot in these colorful gardens. 

Well, I’ve quickly made up for lost time and have visited 3 separate times since then. Nary took plenty of pictures in the gardens last Monday, but I was bummed that I hadn’t brought my own personal camera along to snap some photos. 

A few days later, I was in the adjacent dog park with Bailey and decided to get a few instagrams out of the garden. 

Then this past Monday I was on a walk with a new friend for me (Kit) and a new playmate for Bailey (Kit's Springer Spaniel, Bosun) and I was showing her the various trails Hazlehead has to offer. We, of course, stopped by the rose gardens to oooh and awww over the enormous blooms and variety of colors.

Over the past week, the blossums have started to wither a bit, so if you’re in Aberdeen and haven’t explored this part of Hazlehead park yet, you must go! I’m hoping that they might be lingering around when my mom arrives in 2.5 weeks because she loves yellow roses. 

P.S. Oh, and the title of this post come from a book I read by Joanne Greenberg called I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (great title, huh?). It’s written from the perspective of a teenage girl diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. It’s a bit crazy but pretty insightful into a tragic mental illness. Here is more info if you’re interested. 

Bump Day: 37 weeks (Full Term!)

Today I am 37 weeks pregnant which a MAJOR milestone because it means Baby Boy has officially made it “full-term”. Even though it’s still 3 weeks until his projected due date, if he were born today he’d no longer be considered premature. He’s most likely a fully functioning little person who just needs a bit of fattening up (in his case A LOT of fattening up) before his big debut. 

Due to a slightly concerning ultrasound last week, this date isn’t quite bringing the excitement and celebratory mood that I thought it would. All signs point to a healthy baby, but he’s right at the bottom of the scale in terms of size. As of Friday, he was measuring around the size of a 34 week gestation baby and estimated to weigh just above 5 lbs, whereas most babies at 36 weeks weigh more in the 6 lb ballpark. He's still considered 'normal' but just towards the lower end of what healthy babies his age are measuring.

It’s not too surprising that I would have a small baby being as though I am quite petite myself. It makes sense that my baby would fall within the 10-15% size percentile since his Mom does as well. 

Both Jonathan and I were quite tiny babies. In fact, I weighed a mere 4.5 lbs but yet aced my Apgar scores and was discharged from the hospital with my Mom despite being 'low birth weight'. I of all people should know that size isn’t necessarily an indicator of health. 

But still, it’s weighing on my mind and I can’t help but worry. I’m trying my hardest to just lift my concerns up to the Lord and trust that his hand of protection is over baby boy. If you’re the praying type, I’d really appreciate any time you could spare to ask the Lord to help baby to continue to grow and develop into a healthy newborn. 

My midwife and mom and Talia all reassure me that it’s probably just a matter of my body not being able to stretch enough for the baby to grow much bigger, and once he's out of the womb he will grow like a weed. There could definitely be some truth to this since his length measurements are all right on target for his gestational age. This means he's long and lean which is his daddy's exact body type. 

Everyone comments on how big my bump is, so hopefully there is some truth to that. I certainly feel enormous and stretched to the limit. Speaking of my big bump, here are some of this week’s pictures. 

I guess all I can do now is eat a bit more ice cream and french fries to try to help give baby boy some adorable chunky rolls. Challenge accepted. 

Maternity Pics Revealed

Well, Nary finished editing the pictures from my maternity photo shoot and they are fantastic. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to make this tired momma-to-be look like one of those glowing pregnant ladies. And of course, the beautiful garden and park settings didn’t hurt a bit. Here are a few of my favorites. 

 She also provided me with the raw files so that I can go in and edit any other ones that I want to play around with. 

 

 

How do you like this candid shot?:

I simply can't keep my hands off of fluffy dogs. It's a sickness. Jonathan gets so embarassed. I'm glad Nary was a good sport.

One of my tasks this week is to order a few prints to frame for baby boy’s room. We bought this fabulous collage frame at Houston’s Nutcracker Market almost 2 years ago, but since I am notoriously bad at actually ordering physical prints of photos, it has sat empty in a closet until now. 

Which of these maternity shots do you think would look best in the fancy frame? 

P.S. I just realized that it is officially OCTOBER, which is most likely the month our baby will be born in. Eeeeek!!!